PREFACE. VII 



it; this will establish our vineyards on a permanent basis. 



To do my share in this great work, to contribute my 

 mite to the fund of general knowledge, has been the aim 

 of the additional pages, devoted mainly to grape culture 

 and wine making on the Pacific Coast. It is true that my 

 experience here is but limited, but I have observed closely, 

 and have quoted the experience of others wherever I could 

 obtain it. I do not claim to be an authority, nor do I 

 acknowledge any. We are all workers in a common cause, 

 liable to err, but also gathering experience as we labor, 

 which may be of service to others, if imparted. Let me 

 hope, that my brother vintners will receive this new edi- 

 tion as kindly as the former one. 



In this, as in the first edition, it has been my object to 

 be a guide to the beginner, the small producer and wine 

 maker, rather than to those who already own establish- 

 ments large enough to employ skilled labor, and who, with 

 large capital, are able to bear reverses and mistakes with 

 equanimity. But the beginner who works from hand to 

 mouth, who must struggle on for several years before he 

 can realize enough to make a comfortable living, can not 

 afford to make serious mistakes, either in the varieties he 

 plants, or in the wines he makes from them. If such find 

 anything in the pages of this little book which is useful 

 to them, which will cheer their labors and further them, 

 making them more easy and profitable, I shall have at- 

 tained my object in revising it. What we all need, is 

 practical and useful information, more than elaborate, 

 impractical theories. This I have tried to give, based 

 upon my own experience, and that of other practical 

 vintners from whom I have been anxious to learn, fully 

 realizing that I was entering upon a new field, where I 

 had to learn from those who preceded me. 



GEORGE 

 Talcoa Vineyards, Napa, Gal; Nov. 9, 1883. 



